Chinese people chose different ways to remember Sept 18, 1931, on Tuesday, the day Japan began its brutal 14-year occupation of parts of China.

Chinese citizens visit a museum honoring victims of the 1937 massacre by Japanese troops in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, yesterday.[Photo/Shanghai Daily]

While some people observed a moment of silence to mark the anniversary of the Sept 18 Incident, others roared in protest, as demonstrations continued over the Japanese government's "purchase" of China's Diaoyu Islands last week.

In Beijing, protesters waving national flags took to the streets outside the Japanese embassy, forming a sea of red.

From dawn to dusk, wave after wave of veterans, students and people of all walks of life chanted, demanding Japan return the islands and urging Chinese not to forget the wounds left by Japan before and during World War II.

Many people threw tomatoes, plastic bottles and eggs at the heavily guarded embassy.

"Japan had the gall to 'nationalize' the Diaoyu Islands, which it took from China by force," said Zhang Minghao, a tourist visiting Beijing from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province. "It's testing us and we have to show we are not afraid and no longer conquerable."

Thousands of people demonstrated across the country, from Shenyang in Northeast China's Liaoning province to Chongqing in the southwest.

On Sept 18, 1931, Japanese troops destroyed a section of a Japanese-owned railway near Shenyang as a pretext to invade China.

The incident effectively marked the beginning of the Japanese invasion and occupation of Northeast China.

In Shenyang, people rang a bell in a plaza on Tuesday and sounded an air raid siren for three minutes to remember the day.

Hao Ping, 28, brought her 2-year-old son to join her at the demonstration in Liaoning.

"Although he does not understand what it is all about, I hope he can feel people's love for the nation," she said.